SYDNEY ALEXANDRIA COHEN FOUNDATION INC's Fundraiser:

Polish For Preemies

THE STORY:

Sydney and Alexandria Cohen spent five weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Now, nail polish bearing their names can be found in the hospital gift shop.

In 2003, Jennifer Cohen gave birth to Sydney and Alexandria at 30 weeks of Jennifer’s pregnancy. Alexandria weighed just 2 lbs. 14 oz. and Sydney weighed 3 lbs. 3 oz. at birth. The girls remained in incubators in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines, Florida for five weeks after their birth. Thankfully, the girls did not have any lifelong health complications from being born so early, and today, they are healthy 8-year-olds.

Plantation residents Jennifer and Brian created The Sydney & Alexandria Cohen Foundation Inc., a 501 c3 charity, and has been raising funds to purchase and donate the GE Omnibed Giraffe incubators back to the NICU.
“We felt so blessed to have healthy children and knew we had to do something to help pay it forward for others who are forced to deal with the heartbreaking road of prematurity,” said Jennifer Cohen, a professional publicist.

“We will always be thankful that our daughters are healthy, and we wanted to do something to show our gratitude while at the same time, provide equipment that will help thousands of babies year after year.”

“The Giraffe incubators are the best technology has to offer,” said Brian Cohen. “They are even better than the incubators our daughters were in. We wanted to do something that would leave a lasting legacy in honor and in celebration of our daughters, while at the same time, do something that would help future premature babies for many years in our community.”

To date, they have raised almost $25,000 by hosting various fundraisers and reaching out for corporate and private donations.

“We have held gala fundraisers in the past but with the state of the current economy, we did not feel it was good timing for glitzy benefits," said Jennifer. "We wanted to find a way to create an on-going revenue stream that did not end on any one night or did not require donors to pay hundreds of dollars to support our cause.

Like most 7-year-old girls, Sydney and Alexandria love nail polish. Therefore, we came up with a product that was fun and affordable for everyone.”

The Cohens created a twin nail polish gift set which is presented in a heart shaped clear box and includes one bottle of glow-in-the-dark light pink polish with sparkles, named “Sydney” and one bottle of light purple nail polish, named “Alexandria”. The polish is cruelty-free and made in the United States, something that the Cohens were adamant about. Each boxed set is $14.00.

The Cohens researched every aspect of the project, from the polish, to the heart-shaped boxes, to the matching acrylic hearts that top each bottle. “The girls approved everything along the way and learned a lot about budgets, packaging options, and profit margins. We thought this was a creative way to raise money.”

"Our mom helped us with the choices but we picked it all out," said Sydney Cohen. "I like purple and my sister likes pink so that is how we picked the colors," added Alexandria.

The polish is available online at the Foundation's website. www.sacohenfoundation.org.

One hundred percent of all sales will benefit the charity.

Jennifer and Brian were recognized as one of “South Florida’s Finest Couples 2008” by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Jennifer is the recipient of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science’s “Women of Vision 2010” award, and the Cohen family is the recipient of the 2010 “Guardian Angel” Award from Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Of Broward County.